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Most Infuriating Myth about your Country?

  Tags: Stereotypes
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post Reply
177 messages over 23 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 15 ... 22 23 Next >>
Marc Frisch
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6665 days ago

1001 posts - 1169 votes 
Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Persian, Tamil

 
 Message 113 of 177
16 July 2009 at 9:58pm | IP Logged 
JuanM wrote:
Marc Frisch wrote:
In the part of Germany where I live, horse sausages are still common.


I love Germany, but this is disgusting.


It's comparatively harmless compared to other German specialities, like blood sausage, pig stomach (one of the typical dishes in my region, very tasty), veal brain, head cheese (which doesn't contain any cheese, but it sure contains head!)...

In Germany we actually eat most parts of animals, including inner organs like kidneys, tripes or liver. I still remember from my childhood that when we had chicken there was always a huge fight about who got to eat the throat, heart, and liver.


PS: As a sidenote, pig stomach rose to nationwide fame as the favorite dish of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Edited by Marc Frisch on 16 July 2009 at 10:01pm

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Paramecium
Tetraglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 5712 days ago

46 posts - 59 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Russian
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 114 of 177
16 July 2009 at 10:45pm | IP Logged 
Mhm I also don't understand at all why it should be disgusting to eat horses.

I see no difference in eating a horse, a pig, a kangaroo or a steak from a cow. But of course everybody has his own taboos about food. I would for example never eat a vietnamese balut (boiled fertilized duck egg with a three week old embryo inside).



Edited by Paramecium on 16 July 2009 at 10:48pm

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cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5838 days ago

1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 115 of 177
17 July 2009 at 1:36pm | IP Logged 
All the Americans here seem to come from the West Coast or the East Coast of the US!
Isn't there anyone from some funky state like Kentucky, New Mexico or Alabama?

States like these are a more exotic, I think! How many Europeans have visited North Dakota or Missouri...? Nobody I know!

Films etc are often from the West Coast, and at work I regularly meet people from the East Coast. Perhaps the coasts are where most people live (?) but it's the I find the bits in the middle more fascinating!

Or is it that the people who are more likely to visit a language forum are those on the coasts?

In school I memorised the location and capitals of all the American and Canadian states, plus the main facts and attractions in each. I vowed to go to Wyoming and Idaho because there is some cool landscape there.
But as of yet, I have not been... !

------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
PS - I don't see what the problem is with horse-meat. I think they use horses who've lived out their lives anyway! The horses have probably had much better lives than the cows that are used for entrecotes and steaks!

People should watch the excellent German film "Unser täglich Brot" - available on Demonoid and similar. It's a silent film, very powerful, about European food production. Very helpful if you're starting a diet, lol.

Edited by cordelia0507 on 17 July 2009 at 10:35pm

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House
Newbie
United States
Joined 5647 days ago

3 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 116 of 177
19 July 2009 at 12:05am | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
All the Americans here seem to come from the West Coast or the East Coast of the US!
Isn't there anyone from some funky state like Kentucky, New Mexico or Alabama?

States like these are a more exotic, I think! How many Europeans have visited North Dakota or Missouri...? Nobody I know!

Films etc are often from the West Coast, and at work I regularly meet people from the East Coast. Perhaps the coasts are where most people live (?) but it's the I find the bits in the middle more fascinating!

Or is it that the people who are more likely to visit a language forum are those on the coasts?

In school I memorised the location and capitals of all the American and Canadian states, plus the main facts and attractions in each. I vowed to go to Wyoming and Idaho because there is some cool landscape there.
But as of yet, I have not been... !


The East Coast is highly populated so that may explain why you seem to meet alot of people from there. This is obviously due to the history and growth of the states and the mass influx of immigrants through New York City in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Films and television shows are filmed in the West Coast often because of the excellent climate and presence of Hollywood. There isn't much you won't find in California and many celebrities live there.

In my experiences, Midwesterners aren't as culturally sensitive as people on the coasts because of the lack of cultural diversity in some areas. If you live in New York City or Miami or you are more likely to hear a foreign tongue(especially Spanish) than if you live in the middle of the country.

I know where I live in New Jersey there is a pizzeria run by Italian immigrants, a sushi place run by some Japanese people, a Polish bakery, a few Chinese restaurants and quite a few stores that although I have no idea what they sell, their signs are written in Hindi/Korean only. This is all within a 5 mile area.
1 person has voted this message useful



Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6034 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 117 of 177
19 July 2009 at 1:01am | IP Logged 
Marc Frisch wrote:
JuanM wrote:
Marc Frisch wrote:
In the part of Germany where I live, horse sausages are still common.


I love Germany, but this is disgusting.


It's comparatively harmless compared to other German specialities, like blood sausage, pig stomach (one of the typical dishes in my region, very tasty), veal brain, head cheese (which doesn't contain any cheese, but it sure contains head!)...

In Germany we actually eat most parts of animals, including inner organs like kidneys, tripes or liver. I still remember from my childhood that when we had chicken there was always a huge fight about who got to eat the throat, heart, and liver.

PS: As a sidenote, pig stomach rose to nationwide fame as the favorite dish of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl.


You don't have пача in Germany ;p It's made of pig's ears and all the internal organs cut in small chunks. Because there is gelatine in the ears (a scientific fact; you can try boiling pig ears and you'll see ) the whole thing becomes a big wobbling jelly.

Edited by Sennin on 19 July 2009 at 1:04am

1 person has voted this message useful



JW
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United States
youtube.com/user/egw
Joined 6122 days ago

1802 posts - 2011 votes 
22 sounds
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew
Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian

 
 Message 118 of 177
19 July 2009 at 1:12am | IP Logged 
Vis-à-vis my homeland: That it is a Capitalist country. It used to be, but now it is Socialist :(

Edited by JW on 19 July 2009 at 1:16am

1 person has voted this message useful



Lizzern
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5909 days ago

791 posts - 1053 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 119 of 177
19 July 2009 at 1:42am | IP Logged 
JW wrote:
Vis-à-vis my homeland: That it is a Capitalist country. It used to be, but now it is Socialist :(


Good one. One of the infuriating myths about mine: that it being socialist is A Bad Thing.

It feels like whenever I talk to Americans about politics in Norway and they hear about the socialism thing, they're all like, "gosh I'm so sorry to hear that, I thought Norway was one of the good countries!" (That's an actual quote, as precisely as I can remember it.) And then I have to explain to them that no, no, it is, more 'because' it's socialist than 'despite'...
1 person has voted this message useful



JW
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United States
youtube.com/user/egw
Joined 6122 days ago

1802 posts - 2011 votes 
22 sounds
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew
Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian

 
 Message 120 of 177
19 July 2009 at 2:22am | IP Logged 
Lizzern wrote:
It feels like whenever I talk to Americans about politics in Norway and they hear about the socialism thing, they're all like, "gosh I'm so sorry to hear that, I thought Norway was one of the good countries!" (That's an actual quote, as precisely as I can remember it.) And then I have to explain to them that no, no, it is, more 'because' it's socialist than 'despite'...

You can fit what I know about Norway on the head of a pin so I can’t comment. I’d love to visit there one day but realistically, I probably will never get the opportunity :(

I have a huge theoretical problem with Socialism though. I believe that government should only be engaged in keeping citizenry safe from violence, both internal (police force) and external (military). Everything else should be in the realm of the private sector. Government has no motive to do things efficiently so there is always wastefulness (as a matter of fact Efficient Government is an oxymoron).



1 person has voted this message useful



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